I’m sorry, I’ve been putting off posting on this. After three months, it’s still a little hard to think about. Leaving Jimmy’s band was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. He’s a true shepherd of those under his authority. Some of the guys in the band I’ve been friends with since early childhood. This was our family for many years. We had all things in common. We worshiped together thousands and thousands of times.

If I didn’t believe in the gospel, and that it’s our joy to advance the news of the kingdom of God in the world, I would never have changed things up. That’s not to say that being in a band my whole life would have been a bad thing. But I could feel myself starting to use it as a way to hide from doing new, harder things. The call to press on and obey God’s plan eventually became stronger than my desire to remain comfortable.

From the moment I told the band I felt called to pursue worship leading to the last time we led worship together, I received nothing but support from them all. Prayer support, financial support, advice, training, coaching–anything they could offer me, they offered generously.

If I ever again am a part of a team like the Jimmy McNeal Band, I’ll be doing ministry indeed. They truly care about the people they’re leading in worship, and that they are being led to worship the true God. They have a far-reaching ministry, but more importantly, deep-reaching. They are in my heart for good, and I’ll always be ready to do anything I can for them.